Refrigerator



Aug. 21, 1934.

I M. SCHILLING ET AL REFRIGERATOR Filed Aug. 7, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 //VVE/V 7095. JOHN 5 CHILL/N6 W/LL/IED G. SCH/LL A TTOENEY Aug. 21, 1934- J. M. SCHILLING ET AL REFRIGERATOR Filed- Aug. 7, 1931 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 JOHN M 1795 in) IL A W/LLAQDGZH/LL/N. MM (5 M A 7"7'OENY Patented Aug. 21, 1934 vmmtw ma...

John M. Schilling and Willard G. Schilling, Lima, @hio Application August '7, 3 .9331, Serial No. 555,654

11 Claims.

Our invention relates to an improved construction of refrigerator for cooling bottled soft drinks, characterized particularly by the construction and relation of the parts by which the structure may be knocked down for shipping purposes. Our improved construction also greatly facilitates the assembling of the refrigerator.

Our present invention is an improvement on the construction disclosed in our copending application Serial Number 535,402.

The construction of our earlier application referred to, as well as of our present application, consists of a box portion which may or may not be used with a stand portion as desired, the box portion being readily separable from the stand portion, and readily mounted thereon as may be required, without changing the assembly of the box portion; also, the box portion consists of a metal tank for holding the liquid, separate slabs of insulating material for insulating the tank, and parts for holding the slabs and tank in assembled relation for use, so that the parts may be quickly and readily assembled and with equal facility taken apart if required, to repairer renew any of the parts.

The improvement of our present invention, consists of an improved stand construction and means for attaching it to the box portion, by which an improved leg construction forming a part of the stand construction, may be attached to the box portion by fastening devices having no other function, which are independent of any and all of the fastening devices of the box portion, thereby greatly facilitating the attaching of the stand portion to and its removal from the box portion, as desired. Furthermore, our improved leg construction provi es for more effective distribution of the weight on the legs and more eifective bracing of legs, could be effected with our earlier construction referred to.

Our invention will best be imderstood by reference to the accompanying drawings, showing a preferred embodiment thereof, in which Fig. 1 illustrates our refrigerator in perspective view, with the box portion mounted on the stand portion, v

Fig. 1a shows in perspective View, to an enlarged scale, the upper portion of one of the legs,

,. Fig. 2 is a sectional View to an enlarged scale of the box portion shown in Fig. 1 taken along the line 2-2,

Fig. 3 is a sectional view of a portion of the stand shown in Fig. 1 taken along the line 33,

Fig. 4 is a View of the component parts of the box portion in separated relation, before the box portion is assembled,

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the shelf of the refrigorator stand, and I Fig. 6 is an end view of the shelf shown in Fig. 5.

Similar numerals refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

As shown in Fig. 1, our refrigerator consists generally of a box portion A and a stand B, secured together by screws 10, 100 as indicated. When it is desired to use the box portion without the stand, the screws 10, 106 are removed, and the box portion is lifted from the stand, the reverse operation being efiected in attaching the box portion to the stand. The structure and assembly of the box portion remain unchanged during separation from the stand, and during its subsequent attachment thereto, if it is desired to use the stand. 5

The box portion of our refrigerator consists of vertical'corner members 11 consisting of metal angle bars, which are rigidly secured at their upper ends for example by spot welding, to a continuous channel member 12 opening downso wardly. A hinged cover 13 rests loosely on the channel member 12 to provide convenient access to the box portion. The lower ends of the angle bars 11 are connected by screws 10a, 1012 with a continuous metal band 14, preferably of T- shaped cross-section, to hold the bottom, the side walls and the end walls of the boxportion A, in proper relation to each other.

As more clearly shown in Fig. .2, the band 14 is preferably formed by folding sheet metal so that its lower portion is of double thickness and from the inner thickness, a flange 15 projects inwardly from all sides of the band 14, to form the stem of the T. The flange 15 supportsa bottom slab 16 of insulating material, on which a metal tank 1'? is in turn supported. The tank 17 is surrounded on its sides and ends by vertical slabs of insulating material as shown at 18, it being understood that the structure of each side and each end of the box portion is the same as illustrated in Fig. 2. Outside of the vertical insulating slabs 18, vertical sheets of metal are supported as shown at 19, the lower edges of these metal sheets preferably resting on the flange 15, just inside of the upper portion of the band 14. The upper portions of the tank 1'7, the insulating slabs 18 and the metal sheets 19, are disposed in the channel member 12 which is preferablyof metal, the proportions of the parts being such that the channel member 12 holds the insulating slabs 18 shelf closely adjacent the sides and ends of the tank 17 and also holds the metal sheets 19 closely adjacent the outer surfaces of the insulating slabs 18. The angle bars 11 as stated, and as illustrated in Fig. 2, are rigidly secured to the channel member 12, for example by spot welding, as indicated at 20, so that the channel member 12 and the four angle bars 11 constitute a permanent assembly. With the parts in the relation described, it will be observed that the screws 10b, 10c, which pass through the lower ends of the vertical angle bars 11, hold the parts of the box portion in assembled relation, and that the weight of the box portion, with the exception of the channel member 12 and the cover 13, is carried directli by the flanges 15.

The stand portion B of our refrigerator consists of legs 21 secured adjacent their lower ends to a shelf 22 by screws 23, which screws may be readily removed to separate the legs from the shelf when desired, and may as readily be inserted, when it is desired to secure the legs to the When the box portion is in place on the stand, each of the legs 21 rests against the inner surface of the lower portion of the band 14, with the upper end of the leg in engagement with the lower surface of the flange 15, as illustrated Fig. 2, in which position the leg is securely held by the screws 10, 100. Each leg 21 near its upper end is provided with a shoulder 21a as indicated, engaging the lower edge of the band 14, and the end of the leg is cut away as indicated at 211) to clear the nuts on the inner ends of the screws 10a, 1%, so that the fastening devices of the legs are independent of the fastening devices of the angle bars 11. 7

As shown in Fig. 3, the screws 23 extend through the lower ends of the legs 21, the flange extending outwardly from the outer edge of the shelf 22, and blocks 24 constituting the supports for casters 25. As a result of this construction, when the screws 23 are removed to separate the legs 21 from the shelf 22, the castors are separated from the rest of the structure, and in this, condition, the legs 21 are separately wrapped and the casters, and legs are placed inside of the box portion for shipping purposes. The lower ends of the legs are preferably each provided with a shoulder 210 just above the block 24, so that the weight carried by the leg is communicated through said shoulder tothe shelf and block, thus freeing the screws 23, 23 from the supported weight. r

In Fig. i we illustrate the parts of the'box portion in disassembled relation, prior to assembling thestructure. In order to assemble these parts, the channel member 12 is preferably placed on a supporting surface upside down as shown in this figure, with the attached corner angle bars 11 extending upwardly from said channel member. Then the upper edge of the tank 17 in ina verted condition, is placed in the channel member 12, the end and side slabs 18 of insulating material are placed in the channel member 12 around the tank 17, then the metal sheets 19 are placed with their edges in the channel member 12 and inside of the flanges of the angle bars 11, then the bottom slab 16 of insulating material is put in place on the tank and on the then upper edges of the vertical slabs 18, and then the band 14 in inverted condition, is put in place around the then upper edges of the metal sheets 19 and inside of the vertical angle bars 11, so that the corner holes in the band 14 register with the holes in the projecting ends of the angle bars 11, and then the screws 10a,10b are put in place to hold the parts in their assembled relation, which need not be disturbed in any way in attaching or detaching the stand portion. The refrigerator is then ready for use, either with or without the stand portion, as desired.

The shelf 22, as more, clearly shown in Figs. 5 and 6, is preferably formed from sheet metal with openings 26 extendin across it to lighten it, stiffening ridges 2'7 being preferably formed from the sheet as indicated. The shelf is preferably made of a size so that for shipping purposes, it may be contained in inverted condition, within the band 14 outside of the flange 15, so that the entire structure may occupy a minimum of bulk, which is an advantage in securing favorable shipping classification. To facilitate this, the flange of the shelf is preferably cut out as indicated at 28 in Fig. 6, to clear the corresponding corner screws in the band 14. From the above it will appear that our improved leg construction effectively distributes the weight of the box portion on the upper ends and upper shoulders of the legs, that the lower shoulders of the legs distribute the said weight over substantial areas of the corners of the shelf and therethrough over substantial areas of the castorblocks, that the outwardly curved legs in combination with the shelf produce a stiff and rigid supporting structure for the box portion, and that the fastening devices at both the upper and lower ends of the legs are subjected only to lateral strains required to hold the parts together and are not subjected to vertical strains resulting from the weight of the box portion; also that either the upper leg fastening devices or the box fastening devices may be tightened or loosened, may be inserted or removed, or manipulated in any desired manner, regardless of the other of said fastening devices, and without in any way changing the condition of said other fastening devices then existing. While our improved leg construction may be used effectively with the particular kind of bottle cooler shown and described, it will be understood that we do not limit ourselves to using it with that construction.

While we have shown our invention in the particular embodiment above described, it will be understood that we do not limit ourselves to this exact construction as we may employ equivalents known to the art at the time of the filing of this application without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:

1. In a refrigerator construction, the combination of a box portion, and a stand portion, said box portion comprising abox, an upper rectangular frame, vertical corner members extending downwardly from said frame and permanently secured thereto, an integral rectangular band supporting said box, said corner members extending outside of the corners of said band and terminating adjacent the lower portion of said band, and first removable fastening devices connecting the lower ends of said members with said band, and said stand portion comprising legs engaging said band independently of said corner members, and second removable fastening devices connecting the u per ends of said legs with said band, said second fastening devices being independent of said first fastening devices and of said corner members. g

2. In a refrigerator construction, the combination of a box portion, and a stand portion, said box portion comprising a box, an upper rectangular frame, vertical corner members extending downwardly from said frame and permanently secured thereto, an integral rectangular band supporting said box, said corner members extending outside of the corners of said band and terminating adjacent the lower portionrof said band, and first removable fastening devices connecting the lower ends of said members with said band, and saidstand portion comprising legs engaging said band independently of said corner members, and second removable fastening devices connect ing the upper ends of said legs with said band, said second fastening devices being-independent of said first fastening devices and of said corner members, the upper ends of said legs having 'clearance openings around said first fastening devices.

3. In a refrigerator construction, the combination'of a boxportion, and a stand portion, said box portion comprising a box, an upper-rectangular frame, vertical corner members extending downwardly from said frame and permanently secured thereto, an integral rectangular band supporting said box, said corner members extending outside of the corners of said band and terminating adjacent the lower portion of said band, and first removable fastening devices connecting the lower ends of said members with said band, and said stand portion comprising legs engaging said band independently of said corner members, and second removable fastening devices connecting the upper ends of said legs with said band, said second fastening devices being independent of said first fastening devices and of said corner members, and a horizontal shelf connecting the lower portions of said legs.

4. In a refrigerator construction, the combina- 7 tion of a box portion, and a stand portion, said box portion comprising a box, an upper rectangular frame, vertical corner members extending downwardly from said frame and permanently secured thereto, an integral rectangular band supporting said box, said corner members extending outside of the corners of said band and terminating adjacent the lower portion of said band, and first removable fastening devices connecting the lower ends of said members with said band, and said stand portion comprising legs engaging said band independently of said corner members, and second removable fastening devices connecting the upper ends of said legs with said band, said second fastening devices being independent of said first fastening devices and of said corner members, said legs having shoulders engaging the lower surface of said band to support the latter.

5. In a refrigerator construction, the combination of a box portion, and a stand portion, said stand portion comprising legs extending downwardly from said box portion, a rectangular shelf having edge flanges and extending horizontally under said box portion and connecting the lower portions of said legs, and castor blocks below and inside of the corner portions of the flanges of said shelf, said legs having shoulders outside of and resting upon the corner portions of said shelf.

6. In a refrigerator construction, the combination of a box portion, and a stand portion, said box portion comprising a box, an upper rectangular frame, vertical corner members extending downwardly from said frame and permanently secured thereto, an integral rectangular band supporting said box, said corner members extending outside of the corners of said band and terminating adjacent the lower portion of said band, and first removable fastening devices connecting the lower ends of said members with said band, and said stand portion comprising legs engaging said band independently of said cor- "ner members, and second removablefastening devices connecting the upper ends of said legs with said band, said second fastening devices being independent of said firstfasteninlg devices and of said corner members, said legs having 1 shoulders engaging the lower surf-ace of said band to support the latter, said second fastening devices being through the outer edge portions of'the upper ends of said legs and substantially in a horizontal plane through said first fastening band supporting said box, said corner members extending outside of the corners of said band and terminating adjacent the lower portion of said band, and first removablefastening devices connecting the lower ends of said members with said band, and said stand portion comprising legs engaging said band independently of said corner members, and second removable fastening devices connecting the upper ends of said legs with said band, said second fastening devices being independent of said first fastening devices and of said corner members, said legs having shoulders engaging the lower surface of said band to support the latter, said second fastening devices being through the outer edge portions of the upper ends of said legs and substantially in a horizontal plane through said first fastening devices, whereby the weight of said box portion holds said band in engagement with said shoulders, the upper ends of said legs having clearance openings around said first fastening devices.

8. In a refrigerator construction, the combination of a box portion, and a stand portion, said box portion comprising a box, an upper rectangular frame, vertical corner members extending downwardly from said frame and permanently secured thereto, an integral rectangular band supporting said box, said corner members extending outside of the corners of said band and terminating adjacent the lower portion of said band, and first removable fastening devices connecting the lower ends of said members with said band, and said stand portion comprising legs engaging said band independently of said corner members, and second removable fastening devices connecting the upper ends of said legs with said band, said second fastening devices being independent of said first fastening devices and of said corner members, said legs having shoulders engaging the lower surface of said band to support the lat ter, said second fastening devices being through the outer edge portions of the upper ends of said legs and substantially in a horizontal plane through said first fastening devices, whereby the weight of said box portion holds said band in engagement with said shoulders, the upper ends of said legs having clearance openings around said first fastening devices, and a horizontal shelf connectingthe lower portions of said legs.

9. A supporting construction for refrigerators of the box type consisting of the combination of an integral and rectangular band for supporting the refrigerator box, a vertical corner member for the box extending upwardly from one of the corners of said band, a first fastening device securing said member to said band, a leg extending downwardly from said band corner, and second fastening devices securing said leg to said band, said first and second fastening devices being independent of each other, said leg having a clearance opening around said first fastening device.

10. A supporting construction for refrigerators of the box type, consisting of the combination of an integral and rectangular band for supporting the refrigerator box, a vertical corner member the upper end of said leg and substantially in a horizontal plane through said first, fastening device.

11. A supporting construction for refrigerators of the box type, consisting of the combination of an integral and rectangular band for supporting the refrigerator box, a vertical corner member for the box extending upwardly from one of the corners of said band, a first fastening device securing said member to said band, a leg extending downwardly from said band corner, and second fastening devices securing said leg to said band, said first and second fastening devices being independent of each other, said leg having a shoulder extending under and engaging a bottom surface of said band and said second fastening de- 1 vices being through the edge portions of the upper end of said leg and substantially in a horizontal plane through said first fastening device, said leg having a clearance opening around said first fastening device.

JOHN M. ,SCHILLING. WILLARD G. SCHILLING. 

